I am a poor boy too, Pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, Pa rum pum pum pum That's fit to give our king, Pa rum pum pum pum Rum pum pum pum, Rum pum pum pum
Shall I play for you, Pa rum pum pum pum…
He was just a kid. What did he have to offer the King of Creation?
I played my drum for him, Pa rum pum pum pum I played my best for him, Pa rum pum pum pum…
Unlike the Wise Men who brought extravagant gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, his bank account was overdrawn, his piggy bank was busted, and his pockets were empty. He had nothing fit for a king, so he gave what he had. He gave his best.
The destitute widow gave all she had. Jesus was watching and “saw the rich dropping their offerings into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow dropping in two tiny coins. ‘Truly I tell you,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For all these people have put in gifts out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on’ ” (Luke 21:1–4).
And so it was with the boy on the hillside.
When “Jesus went up a mountain and sat down there with his disciples” (John 6:3), a multitude of hungry and hurting people followed Him. A “huge crowd” (John 6:5), “five thousand men, besides women and children” (Matthew 14:21), gathered to be near the Rabbi. Jesus didn’t see them as entitled welfare recipients, but “like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34). “He saw the large crowd, had compassion on them, and healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14).
When Peter, James, John and the others saw the crowd, they saw them as a costly inconvenience, a bother, a problem. They swatted them away like flies at a picnic. “This place is deserted, and it is already late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves” (Matthew 14:15). “Two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each of them to have a little” (John 6:7).
From the swarm of people, a little lad immerged presenting himself to Jesus. Like the “little drummer boy,” he gave his best, all he had, and laid it at the Master’s feet. “Five barley loaves and two fish” (John 6:8), a meager and measly sack lunch. Not much.
Did Jesus reject the boy and his offering? “Get that snotty-nosed kids out of here. We don’t need his biscuits or his sardines.” No. I suspect that Jesus smiled, bent down just a bit, and looked lovingly into the eyes of the generous young soul. He received the gift with grace!
In the hands of Jesus, little becomes large, small becomes sufficient, a ninety-nice-cent “happy meal” becomes a banquet for a multitude.
What do we have to offer? What do we have that is fit for a King? Nothing! We are saved by grace, sustained by grace, and we serve by grace! Let’s bring our insignificance, our unimportance, our not-much, our widow’s mite, our sack-lunch to the Lord, and watch Him graciously and miraculously multiply it for His great glory!
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